Philosophical Foundations of Evidence Law (Philosophical Foundations of Law)

Philosophical Foundations of Evidence Law presents a cross-disciplinary overview of the core issues in the theory and methodology of adjudicative evidence and factfinding, assembling the major philosophical and interdisciplinary insights that define evidence theory, as related to law, in a single book. The volume presents contemporary debates on truth, knowledge, rational beliefs, proof, argumentation, explanation, coherence, probability, economics, psychology, bias, gender, and race. It covers different theoretical approaches to legal evidence, including the Bayesian approach, scenario theory, and inference to the best explanation. The volume’s contributions come from scholars spread across three continents and twelve different countries, whose common interest is evidence theory as related to law. cover 1 Philosophical Foundations of Evidence Law 4 Copyright 5 Table of Contents 6 List of Contributors 8 Introduction 10 I. Evidence, Truth, and Knowledge 18 1. Evidence and Truth 20 2. The Naturalized Epistemology Approach to Evidence 34 3. Proven Facts, Beliefs, and Reasoned Verdicts 49 4. The Role of the Expert Witness 62 II. Law and Factfinding 76 5. The Role of Rules in the Law of Evidence 78 6. Excluding Evidence for Integrity’s Sake 92 7. Second-​Personal Evidence 105 8. Burdens of Proof 117 9. Weight of Evidence 132 10. Cost-​Benefit Analysis of Evidence Law and Factfinding 146 III. Evidence, Language, and Argumentation 164 11. Linguistic Evidentials and the Law of Hearsay 166 12. The Pragmatics of Evidence Discourse 178 13. Argumentation and Evidence 192 IV. Evidence and Explanation 208 14. Inference to the Best Explanation, Relative Plausibility, and Probability 210 15. The Scenario Theory about Evidence in Criminal Law 224 16. Coherence in Legal Evidence 240 V. Evidence and Probability 258 17. The Logic of Inference and Decision for Scientific Evidence 260 18. Bayesianism: Objections and Rebuttals 276 19. The Problem of the Prior in Criminal Trials 296 20. Generalizations and Reference Classes 310 VI. Proof Paradoxes 324 21. Paradoxes of Proof 326 22. The Problem with Naked Statistical Evidence 341 VII. Biases and Epistemic Injustice 356 23. Evidence Law and Empirical Psychology 358 24. Relevance through a Feminist Lens 373 25. Race, Evidence, and Epistemic Injustice 389 26. De-​Biasing Legal Factfinders 404 Index 420 Philosophy has a strong presence in evidence law and the nature of evidence is a highly debated topic in both general and social epistemology; legal theorists working in the evidence law area draw on different underlying philosophical theories of knowledge, inference and probability. Core evidentiary concepts and principles, such as the presumption of innocence, standards of proof, and others, reply on moral and political philosophy for their understanding and interpretation. Written by leading scholars across the globe, this volume brings together philosophical debates on the nature and function of evidence, proof, and law of evidence. It presents a cross-disciplinary overview of central issues in the theory and methodology of legal evidence and covers a wide range of contemporary debates on topics such as truth, proof, economics, gender, and race. The volume covers different theoretical approaches to legal evidence, including the Bayesian approach, scenario theory and inference to the best explanation. Divided in to five parts, Philosophical Foundations of Evidence Law, covers different theoretical approaches to legal evidence, including the Bayesian approach, scenario theory and inference to the best explanation. The volume covers different theoretical approaches to legal evidence including the nature and function of evidence, proof, and law of evidence. It also covers a wide range of contemporary debates on topics such as truth, proof, economics, gender, and race.